


Finding the Right Words

by bygone_age



Series: The Right Words [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: AU, But he really is, Cat is an editng Legend, F/M, Love at First Sight, Modern Setting, Ned doesn't think he's a romantic, Not sure if "Jeyne" is Jeyne Poole but she might be, Stark babies!, Very happy ending, not much but you have been warned. Just in case, slight language warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 11:03:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14235894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bygone_age/pseuds/bygone_age
Summary: Ned Stark is a writer and Catelyn Tully has been assigned as his editor. He doesn't expect to fall in love...





	Finding the Right Words

**Author's Note:**

> It goes without saying that (but I'll say it anyway) that George RR Martin and/or HBO own ASOIAF/Game of Thrones. The story is mine from a prompt on Tumblr and is intended for fun and entertainment only. It's rated "Teen and Up" because I'm very cautious when it comes to rating.

Catelyn Tully was a legend at Riverrun Publishing. She could turn anything into a best-seller - most recently she'd turned Tyrion Lannister and Bronn Blackwater’s foul-mouthed, barroom tales into a hilarious road trip diary that had spent six months on the King's Landing Times top ten best-seller list, with two of those being spent at number one and she had done it on an almost impossible deadline.

After twelve years as an editor, she had reputation enough that she could practically pick her own projects. It was those skills that her uncle hoped would turn a stiff, ponderous historical manuscript into something that would sell.

“So, what do you think?”

Brynden Tully sat opposite his niece and waited while she finished looking over the work before her.

“You said it was boring.”

Brynden was surprised. Cat's brother Edmure had passed the manuscript on, saying that it was “about as exciting as watching a puddle dry up” and he himself hadn't been able to see how the mysteries of the north had ended up seeming so… dull.

“It is boring. There are stories in the north that can thrill and terrify at the same time and this just makes some of them seem flat, lifeless even.”

“Are you sure you read the same thing I did? I thought it was fascinating and I haven't even read the whole thing. I mean it's stiff and it needs polish and we'll have to do something about the length, but there's definitely something here.”

Cat paused for a moment and looked at her uncle.

“I'm curious, why did you take this on if you weren't sure about it?”

“His agent is a friend and I knew his father - we were all at university together. Rickard Stark was a good man and a good friend, what happened to him and his eldest boy was bloody horrendous and Eddard - Ned - has worked his arse off to keep the family afloat. This project is a passion he's had for years, Rick Karstark is sure that this can be a success and I thought so too at first, but after reading more of his material, I’m just not that sure anymore.”

Cat sat back in her chair, surprised. Her uncle wasn't a man of many words, so for him to speak so strongly about this meant it was important.

“I'm not saying this because you want me to, or because his father was a friend of yours, or because you know the agent, I genuinely think this is a good idea. People love myths & legends and there hasn't been a proper in depth study of the Northern myths and histories since you were a boy. It's written, not just by a northerner, but by a Stark! That alone could make it more popular than Tyrion and Bronn’s book. I can work with this, you wouldn't have come to me if you thought otherwise.”

Brynden smiled and stood up.

“Somehow, I think I knew you'd see something in it. Thank you sweetheart.”

Cat smiled and rose to follow her uncle out.

“Thank me when we're at the book launch. Right now, just wish me luck.”

“Well then, good luck, but I don't think you'll need it.”

Brynden left and Cat turned to her secretary. It was time to get to work.

“Jeyne, could you call Tyrion Lannister and Bronn Blackwater and reschedule tomorrow's meeting for Friday. Tell them I'll meet them at Crossroads Inn at 12:30 and then call the Inn and book the usual table. After that, call Eddard Stark and set up a meeting for tomorrow at 10:30, then could you clear me for the rest of the day please and then get yourself home. I'll see you tomorrow.”

“Are you sure you don't need me to stay?”

“No, I'm going to be reading for hours. You get yourself an early finish, but if you could tell the front desk I'll be working late that would be great, thank you.”

With that, Cat returned to her office and started preparing for her meeting with Eddard Stark. 

**********

**The Next Day…**

Eddard “Ned” Stark sat in the waiting area of a very nice office at Riverrun Publishing, waiting for his new editor to finish up her phone call. He'd heard of Catelyn Tully of course and like most people, he'd read the “Lannister book”, but he couldn't help feeling like she was his last shot.

It had been Benjen who'd suggested (well technically, he'd insisted. His younger brother had told him to “stop being a bloody martyr and get it out there. You know I can look after things here”) that he try and get his manuscript published and if he were honest, he'd been glad of the excuse to do something on his own - he loved his family of course and he'd never regretted the decision to return home to care for them after his father and his brother had been murdered, but it was exciting to think he might get the chance to share the stories he’d been raised on.

Getting an agent had been surprisingly easy - he’d run into his father’s cousin, Rickard Karstark at a conference at his old university and told him what he intended. “Uncle Rick” had been very enthusiastic and offered to take him on as a client almost immediately. Rick had been very supportive, spending months helping him to develop the beginnings of a “platform” (he still wasn’t quite sure what that was, but it had got people talking and that was a good thing), offering advice and he’d even suggested a publisher - Riverrun Publishing, now run by Brynden Tully.

Which brought him to where he was now. Originally, Edmure Tully had been assigned by his uncle to oversee the book, but apparently had to back out, citing family reasons. He knew the man was about to become a father, but he'd also had just one short meeting with him before a fortnight of calls that weren't returned. Last week Brynden had called and had said that he would look at it himself, but yesterday he got a call from Catelyn Tully’s secretary arranging today's meeting. He was beginning to think that he'd been kidding himself about this whole thing. 

“Mr Stark?”

Ned looked up, jolted out of his rather maudlin reverie. He stood up and offered the woman in front of him his hand.

“Ms Tully? Pleased to meet you and please, call me Ned, almost everyone else does.”

Catelyn smiled, a beautiful, charming smile that immediately had Ned captivated, which surprised him because he wasn't one for foolish romanticism.

“Then you can call me Cat because I don't think I've been called “Ms Tully” since I was in school!”

He laughed and when she smiled again, he decided that he'd rather like to see more of them, a notion which strangely, didn't surprise him at all.

_Curse you for a romantic Ned Stark. You've only just met the woman and this is no time for a relationship._

They sat down at the conference table in Cat’s office and got straight down to business.

“Well then Cat, what do you think? Am I kidding myself? Is this a mistake?”

“A mistake, kidding yourself? Absolutely not. This is some of the most fascinating work I’ve read in a long time and I never kid myself that I’m unique - if I enjoy it, others will too. It needs work mind you and we need to discuss what we’re going to do about the length, but this is absolutely achievable.”

As he listened to her, Ned could tell she was absolutely genuine - if she said it was achievable, then he believed her and he believed that she would help him get there. He’d seen the look in her eyes when she was talking and saw the fierce intelligence blazing there, but he’d also seen the excitement and that told him she wasn’t just going to treat this like any other job. It was a heady mix and one he was finding as compelling as that smile of hers.

_Stop it. You aren’t going to get a book published by going soft eyed over your editor, even if her smile does light up the room…_

Ned shook the thought from his head and willed himself to concentrate on his book. Unfortunately, Cat had noticed that he was distracted.

“Ned? Are you alright?”

“I'm fine. Sorry, I just let my mind wander for a moment. You were talking about the length of the book?”

“Books. There's definitely material here for two books, three If I'm right.”

“Right about what?”

“Right about you not telling me everything. How much have you left out of this manuscript?”

He wasn't surprised she'd worked that out - he already knew that she was intelligent.

“A lot. Some I didn't fully understand myself, but others I just thought there'd be no interest or belief in - mostly stories about the Great Wall and most people think that was some sort of myth. I want to tell people about the real history of the North, not open it up to ridicule. Besides, Dad used to joke that if you went too far back into history, you might get lost!”

“I can promise you the North won't be ridiculed, I just want to help you tell the whole story and that means going back to the beginning.”

Cat paused for a moment, smiled and then her voice went lower and more intense.

“So, Ned Stark, I think we should get ourselves lost, don’t you?”

And that is the exact moment Ned knew he'd fallen in love with Catelyn Tully.

**********

**One Year Later…**

The sun shone over Winterfell, the ancestral home of the Stark and Ned sat at the window of the “Lord’s bedroom”, watching his wife sleep, marvelling at the changes the past year had brought.

_A year ago I was just falling in love with her, now we're married._

Getting married hadn’t been the only unexpected thing that happened this past year, his book had taken on a life of its own, becoming a trilogy that had become one of the most anticipated history series in many years and thanks to a massive amount of pre-orders, the first part of that trilogy would be almost guaranteed an immediate entry on the King's Landing Times Top Ten Best-Seller List went it went on sale the next day, following a huge press preview and launch later on that day in the Winterfell Great Hall. Oh he’d hoped and wanted it to do well, but it looked set to do better than he’d ever imagined it could and he was proud of that.

He’d always tried not have too much of an ego, believing it made you lazy and careless, but he was happy to admit that he was glad everything going so well - for himself and for everyone that had helped him on the way.

_I didn't get here on my own and Cat has done so much more for me than than simply edit a book, she became my friend, my partner, my love._

Ned looked at his watch - almost eleven, two and a half hours till the launch.

_Time to wake Mrs Stark._

He crossed to the bed, leant down and kissed her bare shoulder.

“Morning love. As much as I would like to let you sleep for a while longer, we don't have that luxury.”

Cat stirred and still half asleep, turned towards him.

“Morning? You haven't let me sleep too late then?”

“It's just gone Eleven. I know you wanted be up earlier, but you’ve working yourself far too hard, especially these past few weeks, you’ve been throwing up most mornings for nearly a fortnight and you won’t go to the doctor.”

She sat up kissed him on the cheek and smiled, that clever, secretive smile she wore that always seemed to say “I know something you don’t know”.

“Actually, I went to the Doctor yesterday while you were at White Harbour. Luwin took me.”

“Why didn’t you say? I would have taken you myself, White Harbour -”

“- was important. Besides, I had an idea of what was up and I -”

She paused for a few moments, sliding out of bed, putting on a robe and taking a small white envelope out off her dressing table.

“- I wanted to to tell you myself that you were going to be a father.”

Cat held out the envelope and Ned's hands were actually shaking a little when he took it off her and pulled the photo out.

After a few moments, he stood and pulled her into his arms.

“This is best thing you could have told me and at some point, you know I'm probably going to say all of the wrong things, but before that, I love you and not just because of how much you've done for me, not because you married me, not even because of the baby, I’ve loved you since you said we should “get ourselves lost”. For a year you have been -”

Ned never got to finish that sentence. Cat didn’t need him to, so they spent some time doing something much more enjoyable.

A little over seven months later, Robb and Sansa were born, just as the start of Summer was announced. A new era in Westeros had begun…

******** ******

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoyed that. As you can tell, it's (hopefully. I''m not very disciplined, but I want to continue this) the first in a series, which will be sort of an anthology, so the stories won't always be in a chronological order. Also, as you can tell I've made a slight adjustment in making the first two Stark children twins. It won't be the first change and I'll explain everything as it comes up. Thanks again or reading.


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